BRADENTON, Fla. — When they faced Jameson Taillon on Friday, the Atlanta Braves stacked their lineup with five left-handed batters and two switch-hitters. It did not faze the Pirates right-hander, who zipped through five strong innings (one hit, one run, two walks, five strikeouts).

“I told (pitching coach) Ray Searage in the dugout I was glad they put all those lefties in the lineup, because I need to work on my out pitches to lefties,” Taillon said. “I didn’t do quite as well as I could’ve against them last year.”

The difference in Taillon’s splits last season was significant. He held right-handed batters to .270/.327/.425 and lefties went .313/.375.458.

The problem intensified as the season went on. After the All-Star break, left-handers had a 12.4 percent miss rate against Taillon’s offerings. According to Inside Edge, that put him 177th out of 181 qualified starting pitchers in the majors: